1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a finder visual field changing mechanism, and more particularly to a finder visual field changing mechanism which is able to switch a plurality of visual field patterns in accordance with a print aspect ratio which is selected during the photographing.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional optical finder, which is incorporated in a camera, is constructed in such a way that an objective lens, a prism and an eyepiece are arranged in a finder unit body frame. A subject light passing through the objective lens is bent by the prism, and is led to the eyepiece so that the subject image can be observed through the eyepiece.
A visual field frame is arranged on a light path of the finder optical system, and it determines a visual field. Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 6-82882 discloses a visual field changing frame comprising a pair of L-shaped visual field frame pieces, which are movable and arranged symmetrically, and a visual field changing mechanism, which is able to gradually or step-by-step change the visual field according to print aspect ratios (PAR) by moving the visual field frame pieces. For instance, one of a conventional (C) aspect ratio, a high-vision (H) aspect ratio and a panoramic (P) aspect ratio is selected during the photographing, and the visual field is changed according to the selected PAR.
In the conventional visual field changing frame, the L-shaped visual field frame pieces, which vertically face each other move parallel in substantially a diagonal direction so as to expand and compress the visual field. In such a mechanism, however, the visual field frame pieces have to move over a wide area, and thus, the camera cannot be compact.